


All My Children

by Comrade Sakaki (Quantin_of_the_Lethe)



Series: Comrade Sakaki's Azumanga Daioh Canon [5]
Category: Azumanga Daioh
Genre: Character Study, Drabble Collection, Dyslexia, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Protectiveness, Puberty, Wet Dream, Yukari is Mom, Yukari loves her kids, not meant to be erotic, pubescent sexual fantasies, trans!sakaki
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-16
Updated: 2020-10-19
Packaged: 2021-03-09 03:02:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 6,713
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27047659
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Quantin_of_the_Lethe/pseuds/Comrade%20Sakaki
Summary: At first, Yukari finds her first-year students annoying little brats, but as she gets to know several of them in particular, she becomes more and more attached. A drabble collection, three drabbles to a year. Takes place in the same continuity as Cleyera Japonica, A Dance, From the Streets, and Asunder.There is a very frank and vivid description of a pubescent sexual fantasy and its...aftermath in Chapter 2. Specifically, Story #5.
Relationships: Kurosawa "Nyamo" Minamo/Tanizaki Yukari
Series: Comrade Sakaki's Azumanga Daioh Canon [5]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2013553
Kudos: 4





	1. First Year

**Author's Note:**

> I'd been meaning to do a Yukari-centric fic, I just didn't know how to write it.

**1\. THE WRONG NAME**

Another spring, another school year, and Yukari Tanizaki was late. Not only was she late, she had made an absolute ass of herself in front of another class. She drifted into her actual class, introduced herself, and broke out her seating cheat sheet, surveying the class and trying to attach faces to names. It was still really difficult. The words weren't completely mixed up like they usually were, but they wouldn't--stay--still!

"Okay, uh, I'm gonna do roll now," she announced. The class waited as she fumbled through the list of names. She had already introduced Chiyo Mihama to the class, so that one was easy, but the others were not.

_KOYOMI MIZUHARA- FEMALE_

"Mizu...ha...ru?"

"Mizuhara," said a tall girl with large glasses and long brown hair. "Koyomi Mizuhara."

"I apologize."

_TOMO TAKINO- FEMALE_

"Ta...ka...no?"

"Takino! Tomo Takino!" shouted an ebullient, short girl with spiky black hair.

"Sorry, sorry!"

Roll continued in this vein until she reached the back right corner of the classroom. Her seating chart said:

_KENJI YORIMISHI- MALE_

But sitting there was a taciturn, extremely tall, extremely buxom girl with stark black hair that reached down to her waist. She was staring absentmindedly out of the window, doodling something in her notebook. Yukari looked at her chart, then at the girl, then at the chart, then at the girl.

"Yo...ri...mishi?"

The girl looked up and raised her hand. "Yes, that's me. Sakaki Yorimishi."

"Sakaki?" She paused, then realized. "Ah. Got it." She erased the name on the seating chart and wrote in the correct name. "Yell...at...principal," she muttered. Roll continued without incident.

* * *

"WHAT IS THE MEANING OF THIS?!" Yukari screamed as she burst into the teachers' room. She charged the school principal, and Nyamo and Mr. Kimura had to hold her back.

"Jesus, Yukari, what's gotten into you?!" Nyamo yelled. "Miss Tanizaki, please calm down!" Kimura pleaded. No such luck. Yukari was full of piss and vinegar, and they were about to get a dose of it.

"THIS HAS, AND NO, I WON'T CALM DOWN!" she yelled, brandishing her seating chart at the principal. "You labelled one of my students as a male named Kenji!"

"And? Was he?" he asked, irritated.

"NO! _She_ was a _girl_ named _Sakaki_!"

"Saka--? Oh. We meant to tell you..." The principal looked angrily at his secretary. "Did you not fix the chart before sending it out?"

"Don't blame the secretary, this is a system error!"

"TANIZAKI! It'll be fixed! You'll be fine with a student's name being wrong!"

"No I won't! This isn't just a mix-up between two people! Her last name was correct, which means that her former name was deliberately used, or nobody cared enough to double-check! How would you like it if I called you the wrong name all the time just because your friends used to call you that when you were a boy?"

"oKAY, Tanizaki, we GET IT! Thank you for ruining lunch!" Yukari gave the entire room a poisonous glare, then stomped out, slamming the door behind her.

She slumped against the hallway wall and buried her head in her hands. A shadow loomed over her.

"Mr. Goto," she said, springing up. "I'm...sorry for my outburst."

He waved the empty pipe he used as a prop. "It was admirable, standing up for your student like that. Not many would have done the same."

"It was...the right thing to do."

"Yes, it was. I'm glad to see you're taking this job more seriously."

"Eh heh. Well, I have to go prepare for--"

Goto gave her a stern yet knowing expression. "I understand. I'll be keeping a sharp eye on you, Tanizaki." And he walked away.

Yukari took a deep breath, before returning to class. As soon as she stepped in the room, the mask went on, and Happy Yukari was back.

"Hello, class! I'm Ms. Tanizaki, and I'll be your English teacher for the year..."

* * *

* * *

**2\. TOO MUCH TO BEAR**

It happened one Tuesday morning about two months into the school year.

"Chiyo, can you read the example for us?

Chiyo struggled. Hard. And whenever she tried again, she would get more and more frustrated, and make more and more mistakes.

"Chiyo, it's okay if you can't do it. Kaorin, could you--"

"NO! I _CAN_ DO THIS!" Chiyo yelled. And she kept sputtering. She was a car stuck in the mud, desperately spinning to get out and getting nowhere fast.

"Chiyo! Stop!" Yukari said firmly. Chiyo stopped.

"See me after school."

She turned to Kaorin. "Kaorin, could you read the example?" Kaorin did so with no problem. Chiyo sat there, staring as vacantly as Osaka.

After school, Chiyo dutifully showed up back to Yukari's classroom.

"Hey, sport," she said. "Walk with me."

It was a pleasant late spring evening. The birds were singing heartily, and the air smelled fresh and clean. "Where are we going, Miss Yukari?" Chiyo asked.

Yukari smiled. "Oh, please, Chiyo, outside of school, just call me Yukari. And I want to spend some time with you."

They crossed the street. "Mind if I walk you home?"

"Not at all."

They walked towards Chiyo's home, talking about various things--when Yukari was in school, Chiyo's latest interests, what living with Nyamo was like.

Yukari suddenly asked, "Was it because you had trouble reading the sentence?"

The question caught Chiyo off her guard. "What do you mean?"

"I'm gonna level with you about something. I have trouble reading."

Chiyo looked at Yukari in shock. "How are you an English teacher, then?"

Yukari laughed. "I'm dyslexic, and English characters are, for whatever reason, easier for me to read and write than Japanese." She pulled out her notes for that day to show to Chiyo. They were all in English, all lowercase, with letters underlined to denote capitalization.

Chiyo passed them back. "I'm touched you shared that with me about yourself, but no, I just had trouble reading the sentence. It was...difficult."

"And you're not used to things being difficult."

Chiyo frowned. "I'm not soft!"

"I never said you were. You're extremely intelligent. It's okay if something's hard. It's not a value judgement on you. It's something to work on, and move on. I know you're a hard worker and a diligent studier."

"Yukari?"

"Yeah?"

"We're here."

Yukari looked up to see them standing outside the Mihama residence's gate. "Oh. So I guess we are."

"Yukari?"

"Yeah?"

"You know how on the first day, you said we could ask you anything?"

"Well, yes, but I don't know if I'll be able to answer."

"Well, it's just that...I feel so...lonely."

"I know. It's why I wanted to walk you home."

"And...why are you so different from how you are in class?"

The mask slipped off, and the muscles that had been straining Yukari's face in a constant smile all day gave out. Her face slumped into such a despondent expression. "Because, Chiyo, my life outside of school is a disaster. Being around you and the other kids is pretty much...pretty much the only thing giving my life meaning anymore. Well, you guys and Nyamo. I don't know where I would be without you." She took Chiyo by the shoulders. "You make life worth living. You and everyone else."

And with that, she rang the buzzer.

"Hi, Tanizaki-sensei here, just dropping off Chiyo!" she said with a massive grin. "I needed to borrow her after school."

She watched as Chiyo ran home, looked back before heading inside, then closed the gate.

* * *

* * *

**3\. THE SECRET**

"Tomo, _why_ are you wearing a jacket over your school uniform?"

"Because I'm cold, okay?!"

"It's not even winter!"

"I'm _cold_!"

"Your nose sounds stuffed, do you have a cold?"

"Leave me alone." She put her head down on her desk, her face glum. She was obviously not wanting to talk, so Yukari didn't prod any further, but that didn't stop the other kids from making quiet, hushed whispers and giggles. After several death glares, the other kids got the message from Yukari: _don't bother Tomo today._

When class ended, Yukari noticed Tomo slowly get up and shuffle out of the room. She pulled Yomi aside.

"Do you know if Tomo's sick?" she asked. Yomi snorted. "Trust me, Yukari. If Tomo was sick, she wouldn't be here right now."

"So, I don't guess you have any idea what's going on, either?" Yomi shrugged. "Nope. Something's up, though."

"Hmm. Well, thanks. I guess."

"See ya later," Yomi said as she left.

As the day went on, something kept nagging at Yukari's mind. She thought it had been the way the sun had been shining that morning, but she could've sworn Tomo's nose looked slightly more...bumpy than usual. Tomo had a very small nose and it was easy to tell if it didn't look quite right.

The next day, Tomo didn't come to class.

Yukari didn't really pay it any mind at first--after all, she did look pretty unwell yesterday, and Yomi had said that if Tomo was sick, then she wouldn't be at school. But after class, Yomi came up to her and pulled her aside.

"Tomo's at my place," she said. "Mark her as sick."

Yukari trusted Yomi, but not that much. "Sick with...what?"

Yomi's face darkened. "Just...do it. Please." Her eyes were full of...something. She couldn't tell if it was rage, or sadness, or both, or who it was directed at. She wasn't going to ask questions. At least not right now.

"Okay, I'll do it."

After school, Yomi popped her head in.

"Hey, Yukari, are you doing anything tonight?"

"No, why?"

"There's...something I want you to see."

They walked together to Yomi's place. She introduced herself to Yomi's parents, before following Yomi into her bedroom. On her bed was Tomo, who looked like she'd gotten into a fight with a rabid raccoon. Or several.

"M-Miss Yukari?" Tomo said painfully.

"Shhh, Tomo," Yukari said, kneeling next to her oft-troublesome pupil. "My God, why didn't you tell me?"

Tomo averted her eyes. "That obvious, eh?"

"Not until this afternoon, actually. I'm pretty capable of putting 2 and 2 together, with some assistance." She looked approvingly at Yomi.

"I didn't say anything because, well, the obvious. 'What if he finds out I've been telling people'."

"I understand."

"I'm so scared of looking weak...that if I'm not constantly at the top of my game and making others laugh...then I'm nothing..."

"Oh, Tomo, I completely understand, I...I have a similar problem."

Tomo smiled, or at least tried to. "Heh. How about that. I'm sorry...sorry for not being a better student..."

"How could you talk about something like that right now?" Yukari gently chastised. "I'm not here as your teacher, I'm here as your..." She thought for a minute. _Friend_ didn't quite describe it. "I'm here as your mother, of a sort." She took Tomo's hand. The smaller girl started to cry and threw her arms around Yukari.

Yukari often referred to her students as 'my kids' when talking to Nyamo about her day, but she never felt as possessive and protective of children she was assigned to teach than she did with these girls.


	2. Second Year

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Story #5 contains a detailed description of a pubescent sexual fantasy and its aftermath. It's not meant to be erotic or sexy, it's meant to be a telling of someone’s first experience with puberty, but I'm playing it safe here.

**4\. YOMI'S DAY**

Yomi was having a miserable morning.

She had woken up to misplacing her glasses, putting on her skirt backwards, and forgetting her notebooks on the living room table. It was a miracle she was even remotely on time for school. What's more, she hadn't seen Tomo at all on her way to school, which made her both worried (given what Tomo not being present usually meant) and frustrated. Given how her day began, she could've used the spiky-haired girl's levity and jokes, even if they _were_ at her expense.

Tomo was already there by the time Yomi arrived, and furthermore she was actually prepared for class. _Was it Opposite Day?_ she thought. She made her way to her seat, sheepishly got out her notes, and buried her head in her arms. Osaka was already gently snoring. Yomi wished she was at that point. Then, she felt a tap on her shoulder.

"Hey," Tomo said in the voice she used for only the most personal of moments with Yomi. "Happy Birthday." Yomi smiled. "Thanks, wildcat."

* * *

Yukari was also pretty much done with today as soon as she woke up. She stumbled through her morning routine and fumbled her way into Nyamo's car.

"I hope you're going to be ready for today."

"I will be, I'm just...I'm not having a good day today." 

"Yeah? The 'drunk' kind of bad day or...?"

"Just woke up on the wrong side of the bed."

"Mmm."

And they rode to school in silence, as usual. Somehow, in the din of the morning routine, she had miraculously gotten her notes nearly perfectly in order. One page had gotten mixed with Nyamo's. With a hasty exchange, the two women went to their respective classes.

"Hello, good morning," she drearily called out. "Anyone not here?"

"Me!"

"Sorry, Osaka, you're just barely here enough to count as present."

"Oh..." the sleepy girl said as she laid her head back down. Yukari didn't have the energy to wrangle her today.

"Everyone here? Good. Let's get started." She was going to be going strictly by her notes today. There wasn't much room in her head for improvisation today.

"Miss Yukari?" asked Tomo.

"Yes, Tomo, what is it?"

"It's, um, Yomi's birthday today."

Yukari put all the energy she could muster into a big smile. "Happy Birthday, Yomi!" she said. Yomi looked at her, smiled weakly, then laid back down again. _Hrmm,_ Yukari thought. _She's out of it, like I am. Wonder what's up._

* * *

After class, she sat next to Yomi, who was lethargically getting ready to move on.

"Hey, kid, what's up?"

"Just had a bad morning, that's all," said the girl sadly. "And a bad beginning to a birthday never feels good."

"Well, surely you have some plans for today!"

Yomi shook her head. "Not today. Parents are working. Said we'd do something this weekend instead."

"Well, not to set you two up or anything, but I think Tomo would like to spend some time with you today."

Yomi looked slightly offended that Yukari was boring into her personal life like that, but figured she was just trying to be nice. "Eh. Maybe. She's capricious."

"If she doesn't, I will."

"Huh?" Yomi wondered. Yukari leaned in and said quietly, "I want to make your birthday special. You deserve it. You're a good student and a good kid." Now Yomi looked less offended and more thankful, if not a little confused that the usually equally-capricious-as-Tomo Yukari was being so down-to-Earth and kind. Then again, she _did_ remind her a lot of Tomo.

"Th...thanks, Yukari. That means a lot."

Yukari gave Yomi a knowing smile. "I'll see you sometime soon, Miss Mizuhara. Take care of yourself." And she went to the front to prepare for her next class, the smile gone and replaced with a deep scowl.

Yomi appeared late for her next class, but not enough to warrant any unwanted attention. She felt a tap on her shoulder, and she knew immediately who it was from.

"What'd she want?" Tomo whispered.

"Wanted to know if I had any birthday plans."

"Heh. About that...I was gonna take you out tonight."

Yomi raised her eyebrows. "Tomo...I'm touched. But you don't have the money for that."

Tomo silenced her. "Don't worry about me. It's your birthday. You're my best friend. Plus you deserve a happy ending to a crap day."

"You don't even know how my day began."

"Eh," Tomo said with a grin. "Let's just say I'm intuitive."

* * *

* * *

**5\. WET DREAMS**

Sakaki lay in bed, Nyamo's drunken tales of lesbian escapades still fresh in her memory. She had done a pretty good job of hiding it from the others, but Nyamo's stories had gotten to her, and gotten to her _bad_. She started thinking about how cute girls were, and how many cute girls were at her school, and in her class, and...uh oh.

She buried herself in blankets and tried to force herself to sleep, but her mind was not having it. She kept imagining her classmates in cat ears and tails, like pin-the-tail-on-the-donkey, seeing which one her brain found most arousing.

 _Go to sleep!_ she begged. She felt tremendously guilty about thinking about her friends that way.

Then, her brain put cat ears and a tail on Kaorin.

Suddenly, she felt very...different. There was a certain stiffness in her lower area that she had not experienced before. One that she had wanted to know about when sex ed came around the first time, but the school had said "if you want to be treated like a girl, you're gonna learn about being a girl." Great. So now here she was, experiencing puberty for the first time, and not having any idea what was going on. Of course, she wasn't thinking this at all. Instead she was thinking, _Dear God, make it stop! I don't want to feel this way!_

And she fell asleep.

* * *

Immediately, she found herself floating in a white void, able to freely move around. She was also completely naked. Nobody seemed to be watching...seemed to be. She covered herself best she could as a precaution, despite it being a dream.

 _Pop!_ Kaorin appeared, also completely naked, and wearing cat ears and a tail, with whiskers drawn on her face. She was red as a tomato.

"Miss...Miss Sakaki?"

Sakaki immediately turned around and tried to move away, but her flailing didn't seemed to get her anywhere. _Kaorin mustn't know!_ she thought, still forgetting this was a dream.

"Miss Sakaki, is that you?"

Still covering herself, Sakaki turned around to look at Kaorin in the face. The small girl floated freely in the void, revealing a surprisingly full and busty figure that she hid with oversized clothes and bras just small enough to not be painful. She wasn't just beautiful, she was _hot_. The warmth surged to Sakaki's face again, and she felt her chest get extremely tingly.

"Yes, Kaorin, it's me."

"Miss Sakaki, you're...you're gorgeous."

"As are..." Sakaki unhid her chest and groin and also let herself float freely. "As are you." She saw Kaorin's eyes bulge when she saw the full size of Sakaki's, well, _everything_. "I...I've never, um, seen a girl naked before," Kaorin squeaked. "At least, one that wasn't myself. I've seen myself naked. Of course! Ha! Ha ha ha!"

"Neither..." Sakaki gulped. "Neither have I. I was not expecting...to feel this way." Kaorin floated over. She felt the heat in her face and chest and groin intensify.

"Like what way?" Kaorin purred as she brushed her tail across Sakaki's legs. She held Sakaki's waist before moving her hands up to her chest, gently rollicking her breasts.

"K-Kaorin!" Sakaki gasped. "It...feels...amazing..."

"This kind of way?" the smaller girl said as she took one hand and wrapped it around Sakaki's hardness, gently stroking.

 _Oh...oh my God!_ Sakaki thought, her mind melting. She was completely overtaken with love, and bliss, and...

She woke up. It was morning.

A cold sensation seeped around her legs. Horror overcame her. Did she...did she wet the bed?

Worse.

She gingerly felt around her crotch. She noticed that her dick was not completely soft, still somewhat plump, and that squeezing the tip made a clear fluid come out. Then she noticed the mess. A large splattering of a clear-whitish goo around her abdomen.

 _What in the *fuck*?!_ she thought in abject terror. _What is this stuff?!_ She took some on her fingertips and sniffed it. She was repulsed pretty quickly. It smelled earthy, like mushroom soup, but mushroom soup with a strong metallic hint to it. She dug up a towel and mopped up the mess. Thankfully, it had been boiling the night before so she'd slept in the nude without a blanket.

Unthankfully, this meant having to ask one of her chaperones about what had just happened.

Nyamo was the health teacher, but Yukari had defended Sakaki before. Plus, she knew Yukari more, and Nyamo would probably be nursing a massive hangover. She went downstairs to find her teacher, and find her she did, nursing a black coffee while looking like something the cat had dragged in the night before.

"Hey, Yukari?" she asked. "Can I...er...borrow you for a moment?"

YUkari looked blearily in her direction. "Sure."

* * *

"You're telling me they never told you about puberty in junior high?"

"They did, they just put me in the wrong class. And I started hormone therapy almost immediately afterwards."

"Great." Yukari rubbed her eyes and sighed. "Basically, what you experienced is called a wet dream. Most people have one. Some don't. Just because you're having yours late doesn't mean anything is wrong. If anything, it probably means things are going according to your plan."

"What causes them?"

"Did you have a particularly...sexual dream last night?"

Sakaki blushed. "Um...yes."

"And have you ever masturbated before?"

Sakaki blushed harder.

"It's okay, I'm practically your mom at this point," Yukari said, still rubbing crusties out of her eyes.

"Er...no."

"So yeah, it's basically your body not knowing how to cum and so just kinda splorting all over the place."

Sakaki snorted. "Thanks for the highly scientific explanation."

"No problem." She turned to go finish off her coffee.

"Hey, Yukari?"

"Yuh-huh?"

Sakaki looked at the ground. "I...I wish you _were_ my mom."

Yukari blinked. She remembered what she had read in Sakaki's file at the beginning of her first year. Her mom was practically Satan.

"Yeah, I do too." And then she walked back to the table. "Come join us, Sakaki. We can't possibly want to miss whatever circus act Tomo is about to perform with the ketchup bottle."

* * *

* * *

**6\. GIRL'S NIGHT IN**

"Ughhhh!" Nyamo groaned as she hung up the phone. "What now?" yelled Yukari from the bathroom, where she was cleaning the grouting with a toothbrush. "My mom again, she expects me to go out with this other guy she's trying to match me with." Yukari appeared from the bathroom smelling strongly of cleaner. "Why don't we stay in tonight? We can have a perfectly good time here for a _lot_ less."

"Yukari Tanizaki, saving money?" Nyamo wondered. "Who are you, and what did you do with the Yukari I know?"

"Eh heh...I have my reasons, Kurosawa."

"Well, if I don't see this guy, Mom's gonna get angry."

"So you're gonna go out and spend a lot of money to be with some guy you don't even really want to see? And _I'm_ the one with bad money sense?"

"You'd probably just spend that money on beer and sake!"

"At least it'd go to a better use," Yukari grumbled as she returned to her battle against the grouting.

Nyamo groaned again. "Come on, Yukari, please don't make this difficult. I don't need to be battling you and my mother." Yukari returned from the bathroom again. "I'm not picking a fight. I'm giving you advice. Would you rather stay here and have a potentially fun night in for cheap? Or spend a lot of money on a date you're gonna forget in the morning?"

"That 'potentially' is doing a lot of heavy lifting," Nyamo said.

"Get bent."

"Okay, Miss Shakespeare, what's your plan of a night in?"

"Curry, movies, bed? It's a worknight."

"God, it's been so long since we've seen a movie together...you're making this almost tempting."

"What if I threw in a redeemable offer for karaoke to be invoked at some point in the future?"

"Done and done. Fuck dudes."

"Not literally, I hope."

Nyamo smiled. "Dear God, no. Although, if you fuck up the curry..."

"C'mon, Nyamo, this is one of the things I _don't_ fuck up," she said, cleaning up her work in the bathroom.

"Thanks for getting the grouting, by the way."

"You asked me to as penance for making you buy me that snow crab!"

"Yes, and I'm still saying thank you."

"You're welcome, missy."

* * *

Yukari was right. She _couldn't_ fuck up curry if she tried. Yeah, it was the stuff out of a box, but Nyamo didn't care. The fact Yukari was making dinner was special enough. As they sat in bed watching shitty movies, Yukari was starting to get extra snuggly.

"And just what do you think you're doing?" Nyamo asked. Yukari looked sheepish. "Just getting close."

"Uh huh. If I didn't know any better, I'd say all of this was an elaborate plot."

"Yeah? What kind of plot?"

"To have me all to yourself."

"I mean, you're not wrong."

Nyamo raised an eyebrow. "You're lucky you made a good dinner."

"Nyamo, look," Yukari began. "I...have something to tell you."

"Oh? And what's that?"

"I..." She looked away in shame. "I love you."

Silence, except for the movie playing in the background.

"Oh, Yukari..."

Yukari started to cry.

"And...and I wanted to tell you before...before your mom set you up with..." Nyamo put her arm around her. "I thought I was the only one maintaining that stupid torch all these years later." Yukari shook her head.

"I almost told you last summer."

"Yeah? What stopped you?"

"Tomo put a crab down Kagura's swimsuit."

Nyamo almost burst out laughing. "Those kids! You love them almost more than you love me!"

"Not true!" Yukari shot back, red in the face. "Although...I really do, even if they annoy the hell out of me."

"You ever, um..." Now it was Nyamo's turn to turn red. "You ever think about kids? Like, of your own? A family?"

"Eh. Every now and then. I don't think I'm cut out for it. At least right now."

"Well, you should keep that path open," Nyamo said, slipping her hand into Yukari's. "At least, keeping the marriage path open."

"And why's that?" She looked at Nyamo's face. Realization dawned. "Oh."

"Mhmm." And then, for the first time since high school, Nyamo kissed her. And not just a sweet, tender kiss, but a ravishing, firm, world-melting kiss. Their hearts were racing.

"So...I hear you're good at knotting ties," Yukari said.

"Oh, am I now?" Nyamo said with a sultry voice. "You always complained about my handiwork."

"Well, you were bending my arms too far back and tying them too hard!"

"So I'll avoid that now."

"That would be best, yes."

Yukari smiled as she felt Nyamo's skin against her own.


	3. Third Year

**7\. WORTHLESS**

As much as Kagura wanted to spend time at the beach, her natural habitat, she knew that her chances of post-high school education were going to plummet down the drain if her English grade didn't go up. As much as she loathed the language, she was very cognizant of the fact that a bad English score would mean _lots_ of trouble down the line. So when Tomo invited herself over to Chiyo's summer home for another vacation, Kagura was fine with it, as long as there was also work being done. She really, _really_ needed the break, but also the time to study.

"Yeah, I agree with Chiyo here," she had said. "I'm fine with the trip, as long as we have study sessions."

"Riiiiiiiight," Tomo said with a shit-eating grin that screamed _I'm gonna fill someone's socks with mustard_. "'Study sessions'."

That being said, she was really looking forward to the trip. And what's more, Kaorin would be joining them this time! Finally! The poor girl had missed out on their last two trips, so it would be nice to have her along this time. She'd been trying to ask Kaorin out on a date for literally months. The dance the previous year had given her a taste of what Sakaki was missing out on, and she liked it. Unfortunately for Kagura, Kaorin seemed mostly preoccupied with Sakaki when they grouped up at Chiyo's house, and she knew better than to ride with Yukari. So she resigned herself to be very, intimately close to Yomi for the ride to the beach; Chiyo had already stolen one of the window seats.

About half an hour later, and all three were asleep, and her mind drifted back to junior high school.

Kagura was a lonely kid, with few, if any, friends. Her family's poverty precluded her from engaging in most of the activities and experiences of her peers, and she was a particularly ripe target for cruel pranks. A particular favorite of theirs was permanently burned into her brain. You see, Kagura was young when she realized she wasn't into men, and rumors spread fast in a junior high school. About once or twice a month, the following scenario would play out.

She'd be walking from class to class, her mind wandering, when a girl from another class would come up to her. It was always an extremely cute girl, her seifuku slightly rumpled, her arms pushing her chest together, a hand slightly teasing a glimpse of thigh, and a wicked smile on her face. Kagura was an easy girl to entrance.

"Hey Kagura, wanna go out on a date with me?" To which our girl would enthusiastically say yes, only to be disappointed when she was left at the altar on date night. Every single time. The next time she saw the girl, the girl would run off to her gaggle of friends, who would point and laugh at Kagura. "So worthless!" they would guffaw. "Who's that desperate and stupid?" And she would cry herself to sleep that night.

"GYAH!" Kagura yelled, waking up with a start. "Jesus, Kagura, you okay?" Yomi asked. You gave us quite the scare."

"Yeah, just...a bad dream." And she went to looking outside the window. They were almost there.

* * *

"Hey Kagura, can you help me with this?" Tomo asked. "Sure!" she replied, before blanching. It was an English problem.

"Uh...er...um..."

Tomo huffed. "Ugh, if you can't help, just say so. Don't waste my time."

"Hey, I'm trying! Don't...don't talk to me like that, it hurts."

"Look, I'm trying to get this done so I can go have fun. I don't need worthless help."

Kagura started to cry. "So I'm worthless to you now?"

"No, I just need help with this problem so I can go out!"

"You hate me! I knew it!"

"Woah, Gura, I--"

Kagura crumpled into a ball and cried harder.

She felt someone gently pick her up and hold her. Expecting it to be Tomo, she said, "Leave me alone. Don't touch me." Instead, she saw the unexpectedly kind face of her English teacher.

"You are not worthless."

"I feel like I am."

"You aren't. Not to me."

"I don't care. I don't want to be worthless to Tomo."

"You aren't!" shouted the spiky-haired girl. "I never said--" She quieted after Yukari gave her a glare.

"I don't want to be worthless, I don't want to be a burden..." And Kagura buried herself into Yukari even more.

A calmer Tomo said, "I...I'm sorry, Gura." Now it was her turn to hold Kagura.

"You still called me a dumbass," Kagura sniffled.

"I'm a dumbass too, dumbass," Tomo said.

"And I'm a dumbass too!" Osaka called out from...somewhere. Not sure where.

"Yes, yes, you're all dumbass kids," Yukari said. "But you're _my_ dumbass kids."

* * *

* * *

**8\. MORE THAN SHE SEEMS**

"Yukariiiii, come to bed, it's a school night," Nyamo mewled.

"Can't."

"What's going on?"

"Solving a problem. Or at least trying to."

"I'm sure it can wait until tomorrow. Now come here, I want to snuggle before I pass out."

"But you don't need to be awake for me to hold you."

"Eh heh, true, but um..."

"Oh. You meant _that_ kind of 'snuggle'."

"Mhm."

"Tempting, sweetie, but this is a serious problem."

"I'll wear the leather..."

"Done and done," Yukari said, sprinting into the bedroom and slamming the door shut.

On the table was a cumulative grading sheet. At the very bottom, by a country mile, read:

AYUMU KASUGA- 27/100

* * *

The next day, she was prepared to put her experiment into action. She had come up with it over breakfast with Nyamo's help, after telling her her hypothesis. Five minutes before class started, her subject came in and made herself comfortable. Right on time. As she began teaching the day's lesson, she noticed Osaka pay attention at first, but soon, her eyes glazed over, and she began to nod off.

 _Mmmmmmhm_ , Yukari thought.

"So instead of solving the problems in the book," she said, "I would like you to try to write a short essay on a topic of your choice in English. Or you can do the book assignment. Your choice. I don't really care."

There were murmurs of worry and excitement.

"But do we know enough English to do an essay?" Yomi asked.

"Don't worry, this assignment isn't graded." _Well, for one person, it is._

The next day, she only got one essay. Everyone else had done the book assignment. She smiled. Everything was going according to plan. So far.

* * *

"Yukariiiii, come to bed," Nyamo mewled.

"Can't."

"What's going on?"

"I'm grading homework! Not that you'd know anything about that."

"Hey!"

Yukari came across her one essayist. In a simple yet florid script was written, AYUMU KASUGA.

Osaka had written her essay on some sort of philosophical concept that Yukari had no idea about. What was more important here is that her sentence structure was impeccable, and her sentences clear. Her writing style was violently anti-academic, eschewing paragraph structures for her own argument style that more resembled a traditional approach to argument, like a Socratic dialectic, than a lecture-based approach.

Yukari smiled as she wrote a big 100 on top of the paper.

"Coming!" she said, putting it on top of the pile.

* * *

Osaka was dreading the results of her homework. She'd chosen the essay, but was terrified that she'd messed up horribly. So when Yukari started passing back homework, she tensed up as the teacher handed her her paper back with a big smile. But it was a knowing, friendly smile, not a cruel one that she wore when she was about to prank someone.

There, at the top of her essay, was a 100 score.

She had no idea how to react. She'd never gotten above a 60 on _anything_ before. She just kind of stared at it, the paper wilting lifelessly in her hands.

"Miss Osaka," said Chiyo cheerfully, "how did you d--" She stopped as soon as she saw the score, and smiled. "Miss Osaka, that's wonderful!" she said quietly, trying not to draw unwanted attention to her. "How do you feel?"

"I..." Osaka stumbled. "I don' know."

"Well, let's hope you keep up that energy through the next couple of months! Maybe your English grade will improve!"

For the next couple of weeks, Osaka was given this special form of assignment. Instead of rote memorization problems and notes, she was given an essay format assignment, and displayed her progress in conversation with Yukari.

"Miss Yukari?" Osaka asked one afternoon. "Why did you start givin' me these special assignments?"

"Because your brain works differently from the others, Osaka," Yukari said gently. "You're really good at riddles and other abstract things, so I thought a more free-form approach would help you. I know you're smart. I just wanted to give you a push."

"Th-thank you. I...I really like writing about philosophy and stuff. Nobody really cares about the things I'm interested in, so writing about them for you makes me feel like someone does."

"Oh, Osaka," Yukari said, holding her student. "It's hard for me to understand sometimes, but I can still tell that you're really interested in these things. Have you considered going into philosophy in college?"

"No, but maybe I should."

"Well, if you salvage your English grade, I'm sure some college would love to have you!"

"Thank you, Miss Yukari." And her space cadet wandered off home.

* * *

"I feel like queen of the world!" Yukari said as she flopped into bed that night.

"Yeah? What did you do today?" asked Nyamo as she combed out her hair.

"I'm gonna make a C student out of Osaka."

"Only a C student, eh?"

"Her grade is so poor right now that she can probably manage a 77 at best at this point, but if I'd figured this out at the beginning of the school year, she'd have an A! I know she would!"

"Wow, sweetie, I'm really proud of you!"

And as Yukari fell asleep, Osaka's words about how she felt like someone cared about her and her interests played in her head on an endless loop.

* * *

* * *

**9\. IT'S NOT GOODBYE**

"Well, this is it," Yukari said. "The final night."

"A shame Kaorin couldn't be here," Sakaki and Kagura said mournfully.

"Yeah, she's...away," Tomo said. "You'll see her next summer, though."

"And how would _you_ know that?" asked Kagura, suspicious.

"I swore I wouldn't tell anyone!"

Sakaki and Kagura made disgruntled noises, but they turned their attentions back to Yukari.

"What's everyone's college plans?" she asked.

"University of Southern California!" Chiyo said happily.

"All of us are staying local, I think," Yomi said. "Tomo and I are going to different schools, but we'll be living together."

"Veterinary school," said Sakaki.

"I'm studyin' philosophy and workin' at a bookstore in one of the central districts!" said Osaka excitedly. "An' Chiyo will get to stay with me on her summers off!"

"I'm going for a degree in psychology!" Kagura cheered. "And I'm staying with Tomo! Her and Yomi's new apartment is close by to where I can do a lot of mass work."

"What's Kaorin's college plan, I wonder?" Chiyo asked.

"Eh heh..." Tomo said. "Well, I know she went north. I think she's going into planetary science. I don't know where she is, though." _And I want it to stay that way,_ she thought. _The less people know her whereabouts, the better._

"Well..." Yukari said, her voice cracking. "I guess this is it, then."

"What are you talking about, Miss Yukari?" Chiyo asked. "I'm the only one super far away. Everyone else will get to see each other every day, or at least almost every day."

"I meant this is it, for me."

Silence.

"I have a new homeroom class this year. But it doesn't feel the same. The days feel copy/pasted over each other. I see friendships blossom, rivalries bloom, love erupt. And yet it lacks...it lacks you guys."

_Sniffle._

"I...I didn't know I could feel this way," she continued. "The year I got you, I thought my life was over. I was single, living with my mom, spending too much on sake and mail-order beef. I didn't even really feel like I existed. I just kind of...floated from one reality to the next, the days blurring together, the hours feeling the same. Teaching didn't bring me life anymore. I was already kinda on the outs with the administration, so I figured I'd just get fired and find a new path in life, or just wither away and die. Either option was a possibility at that point.

And then, I met you. And at first, you were just more brats to keep in line. But as I got to know you, and interact with you, and help you...I suddenly started feeling different. You didn't feel like students. I started to care for you, love you, want the best for you. You felt like my children. My children, you gave me new life. It feels different now without you, but I don't actively wish to die anymore before I go to bed. I have a wonderful wife, a life for myself, and it's all thanks to you."

She smiled through the tears. "And...I just want you all to know...that I love you."

* * *

As they returned from Chiyo's summer home, she gave them all hugs as they went on their separate ways.

The girls all turned and gave their sensei one last bow.

She turned to Nyamo, tears streaming down her face, and held her tight.


End file.
